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Old 27-01-2019, 15:55   #16
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Re: Emergency Fund amount for rainy day liveboard??

Why would anyone want to liveaboard their boat on only rainy days? Most of my best days as a liveaboard have been warm and sunny - or under a full moon.
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Old 27-01-2019, 18:12   #17
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Re: Emergency Fund amount for rainy day liveboard??

#15 Ann - yes, absolutely, the waiting and disruption to plans can be more significant than the headline repair cost. We are in our third week of waiting here (Abacos, Bahamas) getting more than a bit fed up. But we are at least safe, and have access to all the essentials (except cheap beer - but you cant win them all!).
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Old 27-01-2019, 18:45   #18
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Re: Emergency Fund amount for rainy day liveboard??

I think it’s personal depending upon your own circumstances.

I have heard three months salary being recommended as minimum savings. Which could be very difrent amounts depending on who it’s applied to.
The point I think is to be able to survive, while looking for a new job. Or through a period of illness.

So it depends on if you have an income or not.

I have in the past rarely ever met the criteria. Yet I might have completed a job with several months in my pocket and a plan to spend it having fun before the next job.

I personally wouldn’t carry a huge contingency budget for big repairs. I would factor in a reasonable budget for proper regular maintainance. Some I would do myself some I would have to have done. By maintaining it properly I won’t need to replace engines or masts or other major items.
If setting of on a long trip, part of the plan would be to have any big maintainance items checked and serviced to ensure they are up to the trip.
Sail repair and maintainance is not a lot for me but I spent a few hundred getting them cleaned last year.
If I were going to sail a long ways away from home and service I would carry a spare sail. Or two. JIK and a palm an needle.

My other concern would be insurance just in case something bad happened. Requiring major repairs.

Otherwise my personal emergency fund. Would be what it would take to get me and my partner home. Should something happen to friend or family or ourselves. This be covered by insurance or might not. A lot of it’s not.
Fortunately in the past I was able to take care of this kind of thing.
Just for easy to acces and use if I had to do so. it’s a card with a limit high enough.

I never carried a card until I found myself far from home with an urgent need to get there. I fortunately had the readies. But it would have much easier to sort out with a card.
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Old 30-01-2019, 00:11   #19
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Re: Emergency Fund amount for rainy day liveboard??

We had that year last year. We just put out our 10 yr of cost data and while we average $3k a month on average over the years last year was 100% more. While underway we had a leak at the back end of our heat exchanger that was patched multiple times only to have a new one appear. We had to have a lot of engine work done as salt water and engines do not play together nicely.


2nd out genny, bimini, dodger were all 15 years old and needed to be replaces. We lost a thur hull and decided to replace all of them after 15 years. It was also a year we had a lot of inland travel and a trip back to the USA.


We have been full time liveaboard cruisers for 12 years now and do it on our social security check only. We put a little bit aside for emergencies at the end of each month. But last year we had to tap savings.


As for folks saying do it youself - a couple of issues is yard time and ability. I am not a diesel expert and this required an expert on not just the heat exchanger but the electrical system got salted and one injector refused to come out due to saltwater around it. Had to pull the head. As for the thru hulls and painting ect I do not have the shoulder strength anymore to do that. Up until a couple of years ago I did my own bottom and a lot of the work things but I now have screws holding both my shoulders together so it is a lot hard and longer to get that done.


As info we wanted the boat in the best condition possible as we are planning (we plan God decides) to do a pond crossing in 2019 where the boat as to be in tip top shape.
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Old 30-01-2019, 03:51   #20
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Emergency Fund amount for rainy day liveboard??

Most of us have a significant amount of money in “Investments” 401k’s etc.
Hopefully it earns a return, but it is there in case it has to be tapped from time to time. The it’s the average that is important, if you budget for say $3,000 a month, spend $3,000 and only have $3,000 income, then you had better have a large emergency fund.
Many I believe if faced with a large expense, the cruise ends until such time that enough money can be saved to deal with the expense and go again, how long does that take? It could take years.

Seeing as how you are concerned with costs, and desire to start with a ten yr old boat, I’d say first get a boat that that is proven to age well, many don’t, in my opinion it seems some newer designs won’t age well.

I haven’t read all that many blogs or whatever of cruising people, but the one or two that I have glanced at, almost all ran into rather large significant expenses, often revolving around the motor.
I remember one young couple circumnavigating that had to spend tens of thousands of dollars having their hull nearly completely rebuilt, and it was a newer boat.

I plan myself to have about a $1,000 a month excess, that builds up over time and is depleted as necessary, so that hopefully I don’t tap into the investments
The “Sock” as one poster called it.
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Old 30-01-2019, 04:27   #21
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Re: Emergency Fund amount for rainy day liveboard??

This is an interesting question and one that I've been thinking about as well. I think the "amount" you need to set aside depends on a number of factors, such as the size/complexity of your boat, your DIY skills and whether your boat is insured (which might pay for big ticket items). In my case, I would like to have about USD20K set aside, which is enough to replace an engine or cover almost any big item on my boat.

I think A64's comment above about setting aside part of your monthly budget to accumulate for emergencies is a great idea. Hopefully you'll never have to dip into the "rainy day fund" this way.
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Old 30-01-2019, 05:13   #22
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Re: Emergency Fund amount for rainy day liveboard??

As others have said it’s a very individual thing but our plan sounds fairly similar to yours so here’s what we are working on:

We own an old 35ft cat that will have been completely refitted: new standing and running rigging, mast inspection and rewire, new engine, total re-plumb and rewire including instruments so boat will be in good shape when we leave.
We live cheap so plan on $25k US per year to cover living and maintenance and have the budget for 5 years.

On top of that we will leave another $25k in an account at home which is primarily there to get us back on our feet when we come home (finding work etc). If we find we need it for a big expense or emergency then it’s really simple, we’ll have to knock a year off the trip. That would suck but I think that flexibility is really important, it’s too easy to focus on the 5 years or 10 years thing but if you’re prepared to roll with the punches it’s so much less stressful and of course, there may be no big dramas at all so you get the full trip length.

This obviously only works if you are planning on a trip of a defined length, if you’re going for good i guess a different plan is needed
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Old 30-01-2019, 05:21   #23
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Re: Emergency Fund amount for rainy day liveboard??

As others have said, it is an unanswerable question. More importantly, it is a question that doesn't NEED to be answered. At least, not yet.


By the time you have a boat, and have spent a bit of time on it, you will know your own answer for yourself. You won't need someone else's wild-ass guess, which has little to no relevance to YOUR situation anyway.


If you are trying to get all of this in place before you take the first step, then you are simply putting the cart before the horse. For now you need to find a boat, find a place to keep it, start working on getting it in shape to live on and cruise in. Don't worry about a reserve fund for maintenance, until you have a much -- MUCH! -- better handle on what sort of maintenance YOUR boat will need, and how much of it YOU can do.


These are simply NOT questions that others can answer for you. The numbers you have been given are all very specific for the person who gave them, and have virtually no relationship to what YOUR numbers will be.


Good luck to you, in any case.
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Old 30-01-2019, 05:31   #24
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Re: Emergency Fund amount for rainy day liveboard??

Quote:
Originally Posted by a64pilot View Post
...if you budget for say $3,000 a month, spend $3,000 and only have $3,000 income, then you had better have a large emergency fund.

I plan myself to have about a $1,000 a month excess, that builds up over time...

Excellent plan. Summarized more than 150 years ago by the character of Wilkins Micawber, in Charles Dickens' "David Copperfield"...


"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds nought and six, result misery."


Live within your means, and everything else falls into place in time.
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